Apartment Living
It’s a still morning before the kids are up, and I’m quietly laughing at a list in my notebook. It’s my catch-all notebook that has all of our accounting, plus travel notes, anything I’ve jotted down quick from customer service interactions, and, lately — also the little things I’m noticing here everyday. Things that are different, or surprising, sometimes frustrating. Also delights, things I’m loving and that make me smile or laugh. A lot of the things on this running list are the oddities I want to remember in these first days of apartment living.
I’ve lived in different dorms and apartments, but that feels like ages ago. It was, actually. There were dorm stays for summer camps, working as a counselor for EFY (Especially for Youth, now called For the Strength of Youth), study abroad in Israel, and my days as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. But that’s it! We’ve always had a separate home to live in for our married life, even though they’ve been rentals as we move so much with the military.
So, here’s the things that I’ve jotted down over the last few days:
Loving the birds singing.
Europe has the best windows that open from the top and swing all the way in.
Our windows in the trees are my favorite.
There’s this dad out calling his kids to come in and I can’t stop laughing. I’m glad I’m not the only parent that sounds like that.
Hearing soft padding of footsteps from the apartment above us.
Voices echo loudly in the stairwell. Noted. Told the kids. 🤫
Learning the washer/dryer end sound (loud buzz), the oven timer (loud beep), the door ring from the downstairs button and the door bell at our door — I don’t know how mothers with babies and toddlers do it here because it’s all so loud and jarring.
Workers are smoking outside and it’s coming in.
There are so many families living so close together but we rarely see anyone, except kids. My kids are in heaven!
There’s some kid making repetitive noises on the playground outside our apartment today 😆
Piano! I hear piano! Kind neighbors above us have a piano and a child that plays beautifully.
I keep getting lost in this floor plan, it feels like a maze.
Can we just not have ticks? 🤢 (Matt’s bought all the tick preventatives and tools to remove now, this spray for house and dog, and this tool come highly recommended here and by several of my friends on the east coast of the U.S.)
Built-in tracks to hang curtains. Smart. Buying blackout curtains was smart.
Ok, these community rooms in the basements. So many people are moving out this summer and giving away all the things they don’t want or can’t pack. I’m the weirdo shopping it all. I’ve gotten all our household cleaners, laundry hampers for the kids, trash cans, garbage bags, laundry detergent, fans (it’s been SO HOT and there’s no A/C in Europe in general), European power strips and Christmas lights and small appliances we need. It’s genius for us while we wait for our household goods to arrive.
I’m gonna say it — Kitchen drawers are more valuable than cupboards. I have 4 here and it’s not enough. Cupboards are shallow and narrow. I’ll figure it out.
All the appliances have stickers on them that say “Property of U.S. Government” and I wish I could take the bright red stickers that say CAUTION HOT on my oven off. Looks classy 😆
No ice maker. Bottom-of-the-line appliances (except for our washer/dryer which I SO appreciate), and a super shallow sink. It’s an adjustment.
That’s my list so far. I’ll be honest, I’ve already had moments where I wonder what on earth we’ve done moving here, but I quickly snap out of it. I’m maybe glad to have those moments because it helps me to define who I really am and what really matters.
We are meant to be here. We have felt that so keenly in the process of getting here and in these early days. It’s evident in the new friends we are getting to know, the kindness of so many strangers and so many things working out for the best, even if that means it’s not the easiest path to get there.
Our air shipment (UB — unaccompanied baggage) arrived yesterday! YAY! The picture show the chaos and our minimalist living with borrowed furniture right now. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have some familiar things! We are laughing at all the warm clothing and coats we packed in it. So many people here had warned us that the weather turns to cold quickly so I wanted us to be prepared, but here we are in heat wave after heat wave this summer laughing at our over preparedness. “I’m sure glad we have these coats,” Matt says while we’re both wiping the sweat off our faces. The rest of our belonging should be here by the end of August we think. For now, our house looks like a college dorm space with super awesome roommates and lots of bikes in the living room.
These are days to remember.
